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Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s stock market climbed to a 31-month high on Tuesday, once again outperforming the rest of the region in anticipation of a positive decision by FTSE on Wednesday to include the kingdom in its secondary emerging markets index.
The Saudi index rose 1.1 percent, bringing its gain so far this year to 9.9 percent. A positive decision by FTSE after the close on Wednesday would attract several billion dollars of passive, index-linked foreign funds to Saudi Arabia when the decision was implemented late this year or early next; inflows of active funds would probably be larger.
Heavyweights Saudi Basic Industries and Al Rajhi Bank have been among the main beneficiaries of inflows anticipating a positive decision. That trend continued on Tuesday, with SABIC rising 2.6 percent and Al Rajhi up 1.4 percent. The biggest listed bank, National Commercial Bank , climbed 1.3 percent.
Yanbu Cement jumped 2.7 percent after it signed an agreement to export 1 million tonnes of clinker and half a million tonnes of cement for one year starting in April.
Many second-tier stocks that foreign investors may not be interested in were neglected on Tuesday, and rising shares outnumbered losers by only 96 to 82. Saudi Arabia’s gain has come at the expense of many other Gulf markets as money has flowed from them to Riyadh. In Dubai, the main index lost 0.4 percent ro a
25-month low.
Theme park operator DXB Entertainments, which fell 2.7 percent on Monday after reporting a 1.12 billion dirham ($305 million) loss for last year, plunged a further 7.8 percent to a record low in heavy trade.
Real estate firms Emaar Properties and Deyaar Development slipped 1.6 percent and 2.1 percent respectively as investors remain skittish about the property market’s outlook.
In Egypt, the blue-chip index gained 1.0 percent as Qalaa Holdings last traded 9.7 percent higher at 2.48 Egyptian pounds in heavy volume, taking its gains to 78 percent so far this month, though it remains far below record highs above 10.0 pounds hit years ago.